


Problem

by cledritch



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Adventure Time AU, Alternate Universe, Door Lord!Jaemin, Drifting Apart, Friendship, Hero!Jisung, I Tried, Implied relationships lol, M/M, Misunderstandings, Prince!Mark, Shapeshifter!Chenle, Vampire King!Donghyuck, What was Missing Episode-inspired, fixing friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 04:24:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11074002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cledritch/pseuds/cledritch
Summary: They aren't each other's problems. They're each other's solution.





	Problem

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you, Ros for the beta. And Bea, I dedicate this attempt on markhyuck to you bye.

The first thing he recognized is the way that Donghyuck looked at him.

Mark doesn’t put it against him for looking at him with annoyance, eyes barred and eyebrows cocked in a way that suggested indifference but Mark knew. He knew otherwise and because Donghyuck is the one who feigned ignorance that there is bothering him, he doesn’t bring it up. It was not good to push him because he tended to push way too hard as retaliation.

Mark knew too well what it’s like to have Donghyuck stretched so far he snaps.

“Well, if you’re so good, why don’t you find a way to get into the Door Lord’s lair?”

Case and point right now, the vampire king floating around above their heads with impatience. Mark doesn’t really see much of him anymore after everything, contact limited only to the times that Jisung would talk about the things that Donghyuck had been up to these days. The adventurer was very adamant that it would be fun playing bad if only for a while and Mark would pat his head, warning him he’s still a hero that needed to watch his back.

Now, he looked at the boy that used to come by and annoy him to no ends. Donghyuck wasn’t pale like how his title suggests, sun-kissed in a way that he glowed whenever the light touched him and having that youthful flair that he couldn’t place. Mark always liked how his face was pleasant, genetics and his long lifespan kind to him that it still surprised him when he saw him close again.

Still has that fiery attitude, trying to axe the Door Lord when they stumbled into his home with his bass and yelling expletives that Mark never understood how he could get away with.

“What the hell you waiting for, _your highness_? An epiphany?” Donghyuck hissed, crossing his arms as he propelled his flight backwards. He’s dressed too much for the warm weather like he always did when the sun was up: a huge hat that gave him shade (not unlike his razor sharp tongue), his legs in jeans tucked in black boots and it should have been a little comfort to have that red tank top but the long white opera gloves that make his skin brighter somehow destroyed it. The axe-bass is slung over his back with Donghyuck fiddling with the material when he caught Mark staring.

Mark doesn’t give him the satisfaction of being offended, Jisung rolling his eyes as they tried to think about what to do. They established that the door can be opened but at what cost? Mark tried to feel around for the switch but to no avail. He started to try finding the other ways to get inside, cursing the Door Lords for ever trying to get out of the prison he built.

“Door Lords.” He whispered, finger on his chin and squinting at the door once more. His calculations are off somehow because if brute force doesn’t apply then they need to beat the Door Lord at his own game.

Jisung stood up, eyes filled with determination as he turned to Mark “Prince Mark, maybe there’s a way that we can get the door to open. Every door has a key.”

“If they were in a better prison, then maybe we wouldn’t be having this issue right now,” Donghyuck sneered from above, voice loud on purpose and he swooped a little lower to the door to inspect it. He swiped his palm on the metal, something that smudges dirt on his gloves but he didn’t mind it “Door Lords are kinda do-gooders who probably have some bullshit about friendship being magic.”

Mark doesn’t really understand why he sounded so bitter, his shoulders tensed. Donghyuck’s not facing him but just looking at his back, Mark can sense his discomfort at the situation. He wondered what the Door Lord took from him that it would make him this resolute to be in Mark’s presence after making it clear he wasn’t going to spend more than time than needed with him near. Until now, there’s always that air of retreat that hangs over Donghyuck that Mark just wants to run after him. It’s always been that way even when they were still young, impressionable and close before Mark took responsibilities and Donghyuck was forced to grow up too soon.

“What do you suggest then?” Chenle’s been quiet since they started this trip, the shape-shifter leaning his leg on a rock with a hand on his exposed knee from the ripped jeans he got for some reason. Hearing him speak in his normal form jolted Mark’s head to his direction and away from Donghyuck who hummed.

“I say we break it-“Jisung piped up, running over to the door with a smile “With music, maybe? Donghyuck always managed to break things with his axe.”

“Figuratively and literally,” The vampire announced with pride, wrapping his fingers around the neck of his axe-bass to get ready to play. He strummed the chords once and twice, adjusting his bass so it would be comfortable to play and cleared his throat “I lead and the rest of you can help me build it up. Don’t fuck it up. I meant you, _prince-y._ ”

Mark harrumphed, taking the small beat maker that Jisung offered him with a smile. Chenle molded his hair to a spiky do, saying something about being the jerk of the band and he doesn’t think he’s going to last that act. Troublemaker he can try to be but never someone who mistreated people for no reason so Mark shook his head.

“Focus, your highness!” Donghyuck hissed, already playing a few notes off the bat that Mark almost let go of the device and he glared up at him. Jisung sent him an apologetic stare, hand coming over to cup his mouth as he started to beat box. This seemed to make Donghyuck satisfied and Mark began pressing select buttons to match the beat. He doesn’t know why this brings him back to the time that Donghyuck first played for him, voice clear and smile bright in the darkness of the dilapidated RV they found on the outskirts of the Candy Kingdom. It smelled like the earth and musty old books but Mark only remembered of how the rain clung to Donghyuck when he let him lean his head on his shoulder.

Then Donghyuck began to sing.

Mark always liked his voice, steady and melodic dulcet that only made him seem more ethereal than his looks suggested. It’s angelic he would ironically compare because despite how Donghyuck sang about burying something in the ground or drinking from red faces-

“That’s too distasteful.” He called out, eyebrows furrowed as he looked over at Jisung to make sure the kid wasn’t emotionally scarred if he understood what Donghyuck was suggesting. Mark might as well be overreacting considering Jisung isn’t that too young to know about immoral practices but he’s being a good influence. Well, kind of because he did teach him how to win arguments through psychological reasoning which is why Jisung can backhand him when he gets in trouble.

Donghyuck flinched, the expression on his face akin to that a deer caught in headlights. It changed to anger too quickly and Mark can recognize that wounded expression. He tightened his grip on the neck of his bass and straightened his back, a fight brewing already from the way that he looked down at Mark.

“Oh, you don’t like that?” he mocked, still strumming the strings and there’s no warning as he yelled “Or do you not just like me?”

“What are you doing?” Mark hissed, mouth left hanging as those words came out while Donghyuck didn’t even seem to hear him as he continued singing where he left off.

His lyrics are charged, painful and angry like he always seemed to be with Mark these days. Donghyuck was more honest with his music as his confessional, the secrets he kept and the thoughts that he never shared twisted into his lyrics. The allegory of what eats him up inside that Mark doesn’t know why he’s surprised how Donghyuck doesn’t even know how to say things without trying to make it a fight. It’s the same words he always teased Mark with: a perfect little prince adored by his subjects, the way that he implies that Mark doesn’t want to be around him because he’s not made of sugar or because he doesn’t treat him like he was perfect. Donghyuck blames him for how they drifted apart, something that only made him angrier.

But he isn’t Mark. His thoughts are his own and putting words into Mark’s mouth is something that irked him. How he thought that Mark avoided him for those reasons when in truth, it was Donghyuck who pushed him away.

“I’m just your problem.” The sentence resonated in his head that he isn’t sure if he’s more shocked than irritated.

Donghyuck trailed off, embarrassed with how Jisung and Chenle are staring at him with disbelief. He threw his hands to the air, huffing out “Great, guys! You messed the flow!” and kicking the air like the child he really was.

“Well, if you’re going to just mess up, I’m going to find another way to get through this door.” Chenle muttered, dragging Jisung by the arm and pointedly looking at Mark. He narrowed his eyes and gestured with his hand to talk to Donghyuck who is sitting on the very top of the door with his face in his hands.

The two of them left. Mark stared up to Donghyuck’s shoes, tilting his head and sighing. “Are you done yet? Because I’m tired of feeling guilty for something I didn’t do.”

Muffled sounds are the only response he got as Donghyuck folded into himself more like he’s trying to escape but didn’t know how. He’s cornered now that Mark is addressing him instead of ignoring his jabs and he doesn’t know how to cope.

“I don’t admit to being perfect because you know I’m not. You really think I’m that shallow, huh? I wonder if you forget that I dragged you to mud fights because I was bored, Donghyuck.”

Mark stood up, patting away the dirt from his shorts and walking closer to the door. “Stop being defensive for once and realize that I’m not the one who’s pushing people away. You try so hard to push me away but when I do, you have the nerve to tell me that I left. What are you trying to do, Donghyuck?” the little faces on the door are lighting up, strange and a little comforting that Mark clenched his fist against it “It’s not my battle to save you from you but I still care for you. After everything, I still want to because you’re important to me. But I can’t take the burden of your own loneliness away.”

Donghyuck is still hiding his face, curled into a ball floating in the air and Mark can already tell he’s shaking. He’s crying and maybe Mark is as well.

“But I’m here for you. You want to bury me because I care. You’re your own problem, you know,” he said before there’s a gust of wind that made his hair hit his face, eyes adjusting to find that Donghyuck had drifted down to his height. His face is streaked with tears but the stubborn line of his brows as they furrowed didn’t make him look any less sad. Mark smiled, “I’m sorry I have to stand and watch but you can never push me away. You’ve done enough to do that for the both of us.”

“You-“the vampire sniffled, wiping harshly against his cheek that Mark pulled out his handkerchief, offering it to him “You’re too nice, it sickens me.” His words have no bite, something that Mark appreciated. There’s still a hint of the barriers that he put up after years of being on his own, losing his caretaker and left with nothing but the memory of him when he wasn’t taken over by the crown that took away his sanity.

Mark reached over to wipe the handkerchief across his face, shaking his head fondly “You don’t have to be so malicious. I’m only returning what you give me.” He wanted to hug him, hold him close to his heart to tell him it’s okay and they’ll be able to mend what time and spite had crumbled. They can still be Mark and Donghyuck, the two peas in a pod supporting each other through thick and thin.

He stared right into Mark’s eyes, whispering like it’s taking so much for him to do so “I miss you, Minhyung.”

Donghyuck doesn’t look away as his face showed so many emotions that Mark doesn’t see them all, because the door opens and Jisung rushed over with Chenle in tow. The Door Lord is a very odd person, dressed in a yellow smock with a small hat with a tiny door attached to it that sat atop his brown hair. He looked quite innocent for someone going around stealing stuff from people because they can go through doors. His smile is pretty even with a sandwich between his teeth, eyes comically wide that it’s creepy as he hauled up his shoulder the strap of the blue bag that was bigger than his body.

He mumbled and hummed at the same time, gibberish that only emphasized with how he flailed his arms around. There’s a belt that cinched his waist but Mark realized it’s some sort of cast that supported his spine and a ring of keys hung on the hook on it. The Door Lord clapped his hands as the bag bounced with his movement, tipping him down and making him flail with his hands in the air. The sandwich is still in his mouth that he bit down and chewed, humming as he looked up at them.

Jisung and Chenle cooed at him but then remembered what he did and started to haul him up. The Door Lord looked at them curiously before there are ropes around him tying him enough as he is pushed to the ground. “Ha! No matter how cute you look, you’re still a thief!” Jisung announced cheerily, pausing to kneel beside him to stroke his hair.

Mark looked around the Door Lord’s lair, rows of drawers and glass containers filled with objects. He is still reeling from what he said to Donghyuck before he asked the Door Lord “Why did you steal?”

The Door Lord made a noise from behind his throat, mumbling again that Mark remembered that they couldn’t speak due to a vow of silence. “Wait, say, er, mumble it again.”

“What the hell?” Donghyuck whispered to Jisung who shushed him. 

Mark nodded to the gibberish that the Door Lord is trying to convey before his eyebrows raised. “You’re teaching us the value of our friendship is more than the value of possessions?”

The Door Lord exclaimed a noise of victory and it’s honestly something that is different from the Door Lord who was making big jumps trying to evade capture.

Jisung got the box where the Door Lord (who mumbled that his name is Jaemin, thank you very much) pointed and dumped the contents on the ground, exclaiming “My treasure!” as he hugged his baby blanket close to him.

Chenle made a whoop noise as he took his huge pack of cup noodles, raising it above his head “They aren’t crushed, thankfully. Renjun’s going to kill me if I buy replacement when I brought it just yesterday.”

Jisung punched his best friend on the arm before he saw a dark t-shirt that had the words ‘Savage’ printed on the back and a snake eating its tail on the front with little thorny borders. He picked it up and waved it “Hey, Donghyuck! I found your important thing!”

The vampire raised an eyebrow, swooping down to check it but he shook his head “That isn’t mine. I mean, it was but-“

“Oh, thank god. I can’t sleep without wearing that.” Mark announced hurriedly as he snatched the item out of Jisung’s hand and wearing it over his shirt, chuckling nervously when he felt Donghyuck’s stare at him.

“You kept that?” his voice is wavering in awe, something that Mark relished hearing and he scratched the back of his head.

“It’s a good sleeping shirt.” It was true. It’s made of a rather soft material that was better than most his kingdom has, always lulling him to sleep during long nights when his mind is too awake with worries for what his plans for his people were. It helps him relax with the memories of a bright boy and the adventures they had before he was deserted out of spite.

Donghyuck’s blushing so much you’d think he was pretty much alive. Especially when Mark pointed out that he didn’t have a special possession, earning him a kick on the leg as his face colored to his favorite food.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going back to school but I'm still writing fics save me


End file.
